Tuesday, February 16, 2010

HAPPY FAT TUESDAY EVERYONE!

Mardi Gras Parade Panama City Beach 2010I think they got the hang of it! Standing on our balcony as the parade floats set up in the background.We just had to walk a short distance to wait for the parade to begin.. YEAPatting myself on the back for this one, since I am the one that made the reservations....

Faith with her HOT DADDY ☺ He's got the baldness going on!!!(He will love me for this one)

The girl's had a blast, they got LOTS of beads and much.... much.... more! The girl's necks had to be sore after this, they just kept on throwing them to the girl's and always made sure if they threw one they would send another for the other. I am pretty sure the girl's had the most beads thrown to them at the parade... at least this early in the evening.. lol

FAITH

HOPE

We all really had a great time at Panama City Beach. It's so nice to be so close to such great beaches, even if we didn't go down to the water. We stayed 3 nights at the condo, took the girl's swimming in the heated pool and ate great food.

Sunday, January 03, 2010

We had a great Christmas this year in Texas. In fact it was a white Christmas, which was very special. We made a slight 2 day detour to New Orleans on our way to Texas, and sure want to return there soon (maybe without the girls....) :) Hope everyone has a great NEW YEAR!

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Happy "Gotcha Day" Hope and Faith!

It's hard to believe we are celebrating the third anniversary of that wonderful day when two special little twin girls came into our lives and made us all smile again -- we are so very blessed.Happy Gotcha/Family Day to all of our group!

Taking a look back ----

This will always be one of Mimi's very favorite pictures --- what a wonderful feeling it was to see such a look of happiness and joy on my daughter and son-in-law's faces when they saw the girls for the first time ---

Some Then and Now pictures for you to enjoy, it's amazing to see how much they have grown -

Friday, August 28, 2009

Tara said it "best" but since I'm the Mimi and have been thinking about this day all week (and forever), I must also add this post ..... I can't tell you why except that it somehow feels like I'm able to speak to these precious grandchildren I've (WE'VE) lost five years ago today .......

What IF .....

What would they be like, what would they look like, what would they be doing?

Rachel -

Rachel would be 15 .... 15 years old! I know she would be such a beautiful teenager -- would she be getting ready to cheer at the first football game of the season? Would she still be showing lambs? (I really think so) Would she have a boyfriend (or two)? Have experienced her first kiss? Been to her first dance? I can almost see her now, so grown up and looking forward to a great year in high school .... HIGH school!

Madelyn -

Madelyn would be 11 ..... She would be in 5th grade, the grade Rachel was in when they left us. I can see her now, with that red hair and twinkle in her eyes --- she would be enchanting everyone as she always did. Would she be showing pigs (her choice) or lambs? I'm thinking that in Heaven she can show those dragons she always told me she wanted to show ... when she was old enough ... a time that never came.

Yates -

Yates would be 5 ..... Just starting Kindergarten! I think about Neeley starting Kindergarten this year and smile through my tears thinking about how excited he would have been! Would he be playing T-ball or flag football or soccer? Would he be thinking of ways to convince Dad that steers were what HE would want to show when he got a 'little older'? Just a little guy when he left us, it's the most difficult for me to imagine what he would be like as we knew him for such a short time.

I KNOW they are in a better place, a place where there's always sunshine and rainbows and always joy and happiness and they are having a wonderful time with their Papaw and their GDad but that doesn't make us miss them any less.

If only............

PLEASE Don't Drink and Drive! Please don't cause another family to live through what we do!

and so it goes ---

and BECAUSE ---

because of this terrible tragedy, the sun shines through those tears as three years to this very day a wonderful phone call was made to the Mom and Dad --- to tell them there were two little girls -- twins -- waiting half a world away for them ...

Our Hope and Faith - our sunshine ............

and what Hope and Faith they have given us! What beautiful and dear little girls they've grown into.

I like to think that during that 3 plus months after we lost Rachel, Madelyn, and Yates and before Hope and Faith were born, there was a time in Heaven when they knew each other and three beautiful children helped in sending down from Heaven two beautiful little Chinese twin girls to help fill our lives with such love and sunshine!

I know it isn't our place to question so I'll just have Faith that it was part of His plan and Hope that the sun keeps shining through our tears.

It's five years today that our children were taken from us by a drunk driver. Some days it seems like it was just yesterday and other days it feels like a life time ago. I can only imagine what they would look like today. Beautiful and handsome, I'm sure! The twin's have to be so confused about it all, they know they have 2 sisters and a brother and that they live with God, but just the other day Hope brought me a notebook that was Rachel’s that she had wrote in and asked me who's was it, when I told her it was Rachel's she wanted to know why she left it here. One day they will understand, but in their little minds, being with God is just another place you live, and they are so right... we will see them again when it's our time to go. PLEASE, DONOT DRIVE DRUNK, because this is what happens to innocent people. Give your children a hug and kiss today, and tell them you love them!!!!!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Chinese Adoption Reunion

We went to the adoption reunion, and were able to see one of the families we traveled with to China, most of our group lives in California or Florida so we do not get to see them much. The reunion was around Orlando, if only the girls new how close they were to Cinderella's Castle. We actually were going to go to Disney, but did not want to tell the girls until we made our mind up when we got there since it was during a Holiday weekend, and we were not sure how things were going to go. We are so glad we didn't say anything because Florida was getting flooded, and it was raining on us the whole time we were there. So we will just have to go back soon to see Cinderella!

We did tell the girls we were going to see some Chinese girls before we left for Florida and they said " Were going to China" no in Florida. When we were there they asked me if there were Chinese boys in China, yes girls. I even showed them a Chinese boy.

Portrait

Words can not express how thankful we are to have had this experience and to meet these wonderful people. Thank you to all the people at the Today Show, Kathie Lee Gifford, Hoda Kotb, Jayme Baron, Paulo Szot, David Friedman, and Robert Maniscalco.

The song was amazing, how honored we are to have our very own song to share with the girls as they grow older.

About Me

Our long journey to our precious children began in 2004. My husband and I decided to adopt after we
lost our three beautiful children to a drunk driver
in 2004 in Texas. We felt that we still had a lot
of love to give and an empty heart to fill again so we chose to adopt from China. I will have to say this "pregnancy" has been the worst - a lot longer than 9 months. Our paperwork went to China in July 2005,
and then we waited, and waited, and waited! We hoped for twins, not knowing if it would happen but after all “you can always try”. Our hopes, wishes, and most of all prayers were answered and October 10, 2006 we were united with our two precious little girls from Fuzhou, in Jiangxi Province. This is our journey.